Harvey Nicks lauds Vogue’s 100th with 100 year-old Bo

Fashion bible Vogue – still stuffed full of ads – is 100 this year so Harvey Nichols, a Vogue soulmate if ever there was one, is celebrating with a campaign by adam&eveDDB featuring a rather elegant 100 year-old lady called Bo Gilbert. She was born in 1916; if she’d been born in the south east of England she might have heard the guns from the battle of the Somme.

Clearly Bo is the oldest model to appear in Vogue, perhaps anywhere. She appears in Vogue’s commemorative June issue (above), a veritable doorstep I’m sure. Shot by Phil Poynter, one of the founders of Dazed and Confused with Rankin and Jefferson Hack.

There’s a behind the scenes online film, which is quite touching.

Harvey Nichols creative and marketing director Shadi Halliwell says: “We devised a campaign that reflected the playful attitude Harvey Nichols is famous for, celebrating both the 100th Anniversary of British Vogue, and also style in its entirety. It was a privilege to work with Bo, she is a fabulous, independent lady who epitomises timeless style.”

A&E ECD Ben Tollett says: “Vogue’s 100th anniversary seemed like such an important moment, so we wanted to celebrate it by doing something symbolic. We’re really proud to be involved in a project which proves the older generation can be fearlessly stylish too. Ageism is so last century.”

Quite so Ben. But there is quite a big issue here: we’re always hearing about ‘advertising for good’ but how often does this actually appear in real live ad campaigns, as opposed to corporate activity plonked on top of the selling stuff?

The delightful Bo is integral to this. As a certain sports shoe maker said: just do it. As opposed to talking about it.

About Stephen Foster

Stephen is a former editor of Marketing Week and London Evening Standard advertising columnist. He wrote City Republic for Brand Republic and is a partner in communications consultancy The Editorial Partnership.